A tale of love that knows no bounds, good versus evil, endearing characters and vivid imagery set in an extraordinary world.When gutsy psychological profiler Kira Barton, on the trail of a serial killer, is thrust from our current time to the mystical Locke Cress, I felt like I was transported with her. A kingdom of magic, where evil lurks & sorcerers, warriors & beasties abound.
Keta Diablo brings characters to life, the extremely sexy Light-Prince Balion, Kira, named after the sun, Sirene the ethereal sorceress, loyal Jarlock & sweet Ainsley. Umargo, The Story Mage, Garrick & Gwenyth are portrayed and unveiled with the malevolence they're due.
The sexual tension between Kira & Balion was palpable, I couldn't read fast enough to reach the inevitable outcome, which by the way was sizzling. Kira's amusing banter had me giggling and the suspenseful plot was a nice surprise.
I did however remove half a star for a couple of reasons, the first one being, reading an e-book on my computer did not rate high on my list of enjoyable experiences, I much prefer the old fashioned paper read LOL. My only other criticism is the first chapter or 2 seemed a little disjointed & I did find the overabundance of cliches and similes a little irritating. These small criticisms did detract a little from my overall enjoyment of the novel.
On a positive note Keta's beautiful descriptions transported this reader to a magical place, (this was just one of many) a magical refuge, "a maze of rambling arbors and flowering vines, a virtual flotilla of deep scarlet and rich purple, reminiscent of the wisteria and clematis at home. Haunting aromas, a mixture of candied spices and rose attar acted like a soothing balm to her troubled soul."
An enchanting love story which has me awaiting the sequel Dust & Starlight with much anticipation
Royal Rating:
7 comments:
For a story that battles good versus evil throughout, who better to review it than the Empress of good and evil?
I know her review isn't just fluff because she's one thorough Empress! She even took note of a few minor typos in the book and was kind enough to write them down and inform me about them. Now, I call that royalty that minds her p's and q's. Nothing slips by this crown-bearer!
These ladies know how to review and take it to heart. I hope you'll follow their blog because here, you'll get the straight-up facts.
I'm so honored they selected my books and hope I can convince them to do a feature spot on my blog so we can spread the word about The Eclectic Reader and Royal Reviews.
Here's curtsying (is that a word?) to you my Empress of Good and Evil.
Well done,
Keta Diablo
www.ketadiablo.com
Ah, you need a book reader. It's a whole different experience from reading on a computer screen.
Hello Royals. I'm so happy to find your site.
I just read your review of Keta Diablo's DUST & MOONLIGHT and I must say I'm impressed by your expression and the flow of the review. I also appreciate that you give reasons why you like and dislike a book--hooray! Personally, I hate receiving a review of 4 or 4.5 stars and never hear why I didn't make it to the big 5 level.
I would like to take exception with one little thing, however. How can you mark down the story because it's a e-book? If you don't enjoy reading electronic books, yet you review them, it seems unfair to penalize the author because of that. Obviously, the story and the characters grabbed you. Aren't they the important aspect, despite the format?
I agree that reading a book on the computer isn't as comfortable as sitting in your favorite chair. I solve this problem by using an e-book reader (the eBookwise) which is even better than holding a hard copy book--I can easily hold the reader and a cup of coffee. :)
I hope you'll continue reviewing e-books because you obviously enjoy a good story and you know how to create wonderfully rich and well-worded reviews. But if you do review electronic books, please don't penalize them for being what they are.
I look forward to reading more of your great reviews.
Anne Krist
5 Stars (Hearts, Cups, Pixies) for Burning Bridges!!
CataNetwork-Readers - 2008 Reviewers' Choice Award Winner
Night Owl Romance - Nominated Best Contemporary Romance of 2008
http://annekrist.com
http://alittlesisterlyadvice.blogspot.com
Hi Dee S Knight & Anne Krist,
I do thank you for your comments and I apologise if you got the impression that I reduced a rating just because 'Dust and Moonlight' is an e-book. However I would like to point out that I did have a "couple of reasons" for removing half a star.
Yes, one of them being my first experience with an e-book. As yet they are not that popular in Australia and there are very few of us that have the accompanying technology to really appreciate the e-book experience. E-book readers are not readily available in Australia and expensive to obtain but I think Keta may be looking into that for us. Yay..thanks Keta.
I am not biased towards e-books, if e-books are the way of the future then I cannot wait to experience reading them with an e-book reader, I just won't be reading them too often from my computer. I believe I cannot do an author's novel justice if I'm reading an e-book on the computer with the distractions of incoming emails, alerts, group notifications & computer screen glare. I actually read most of Dust and Moonlight in the wee hours so that it was a little more peaceful in our internet timezone.
And in regards to the other reasons, I did clarify what they were - I found the first chapter or 2 a little disjointed & the overabundance of cliches and similes irritated me. I also commented to Keta about missing words and spelling errors. These albeit small criticisms detracted from my enjoyment of an otherwise enchanting and magical read.
Hey, Teddyree,
I apologize if I misread your intention toward e-books! I especially apologize for misreading ECLECTIC for Electric--oh, my gosh!
I did note that you didn't mark the book down only because it's an e-book, but you did say it was part of the reason.
I review too, and I try hard to judge the book on the story and not on the format or book cover or anything else extraneous. If I receive the book in HTML format I can download it onto my e-book reader, but if I get it in PDF I also am stuck reading on the computer. In that case, the best I can do is snatch my hubby's laptop late at night and take it to my comfy chair in the living room. Otherwise, I'm spending long hours in my office chair like you.
Also like you, I reduce a rating if I'm distracted by misspelled words or if the story's confusing or if there's headhopping, etc. so we're on the same page there. We're sisters under the skin!
I'm so happy you'll continue working with electronic books--I truly enjoyed your reviews.
Anne Krist/Dee S. Knight
http://annekrist.com
http://deesknight.com
Thanks for the kind words Keta. We are addicted readers and put a lot of time and thought into our reviews, hopefully readers find them fair, enlightening, sometimes funny but always honest.
Curtsy right back at ya.
If it hasn't already been made perfectly clear, let me say again, no one who reviews books at Royal Reviews takes crowns off because we don't like a cover! That is just ridiculous. I will however confess to buying many books because I love the cover, like many consumers.
E-Book Readers are not even available in Australia, we can purchase Kindles and have the power adapted but this cost is, I am told in excess of $1000. So not worth it at this stage.
Within the next week or so I will post an explanation of how we rate our books, although it varies slightly with each reviewer. Perhaps that will clear up some of the misunderstandings that occurred today.
Regards
Alaine (Queen of Happy Endings)
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